Kerb-crawlers on Teesside could lose their vehicles under a radical new interpretation of the law, police today said.

Plagues of men targeting Middlesbrough for sex with prostitutes have forced officers on the offensive in a fight to clean up the streets.

Middlesbrough is the only town in the region to have on-street prostitution - a situation the local force has tried to stamp out for nearly four years.

Naming and shaming campaigns and a high-visibility presence has reduced the number of men scouring the town's red light district for prostitutes, but an influx of kerb-crawlers from as far away as the Scottish borders and Manchester has forced a new approach.

Persistent offenders now face the possibility of losing their cars if magistrates concede to police requests under Section 143 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts Act 2000.

Under the law, magistrates can grant seizure of property used to commit, or aid the committing of a crime.

Inspector Gary Gamesby of Cleveland Police said the main conduit of kerb-crawlers was their motor vehicles.

"The poor residents of Middlesbrough have to put up with the prostitution, the prostitutes are desperate, prone to drugs and there is an element of pimping and grooming, but the kerb-crawlers have all the choice in the world. The conduit is the vehicle they use to come here in, if we can take that away it may keep them from coming," he said.

"It is ground-breaking and it is a bold step but we are pursuing this course of action and we have the backing of the Crown Prosecution Service."

Average fines for men caught soliciting women for sex are somewhere between £200 and £400 at present, so police hope the threat of having a car confiscated will prove a significant deterrent.

The concerted effort to clampdown on prostitution in the town was launched in August 1998 in response to a 1,000-strong petition from residents fed up with the seedy underbelly of Middlesbrough's notorious nightlife.

Some 200 women were working the streets at the time. This figure has dropped to around 140, of whom only in the region of 20 will work on any given night.

Barnardo's charity estimated 33 youngsters had been drawn into the sex racket at the start of the campaign, a figure which dropped to 19 by 2000 and is now in single figures.

A total of 541 men have been prosecuted in some shape or form since 1999. Inspector Gamesby said: "We have caught doctors, clergymen and police officers. We will catch anyone who comes and kerb-crawls on our streets."